Ex-boyfriend charged in Aurora woman's murder

mugs of Brenetta Beck and Hezekiah Hamilton called out>

As Brenda Love readied for work that morning three weeks ago, her only child was being savagely attacked in a neighboring Aurora apartment.

Detectives knocked on Love's door early Tuesday with the news she so longed to hear.

Prosecutors charged her slain daughter's estranged boyfriend, Hezekiah Hamilton, 24, of Joliet with first-degree murder.

"I just began crying," Love said. "I was afraid no one would ever get charged. She was so brutally murdered."

Hamilton is accused of fatally stabbing 25-year-old Brenetta Beck early Oct. 30 in her east-side apartment, just 10 days after she gave birth to his second child. Their 16-month-old daughter, Tamia, and infant son, Trevion, were not injured.

Police said they linked Hamilton to the slaying through physical evidence found at the crime scene and a truck the defendant had been driving. They have not found the murder weapon.

Hamilton, a factory worker, met Beck after being paroled from prison in July 2005 after serving less than half of a seven-year term for aggravated vehicular hijacking in Cook County.

Beck, a hospice caretaker, ended the tumultuous relationship with Hamilton early this year after, her family said, she accused him of being unfaithful. Shortly later, she learned she was pregnant with Trevion.

Hamilton was ordered last summer to start paying $91.78 in child support each week. On Nov. 14, Love sought an emergency protective order in Kane County. She accused Hamilton of threats and physical violence. A judge granted the order.

"We didn't know a lot of things until the end -- the threats, the stalking, him putting his hands on her," aunt Hattie Love said. "She acted like she wasn't scared. She knew how much her mother worried about her."

After Beck didn't respond to relatives' phone calls, police entered the second-floor apartment on the 1700 block of Molitor Road at 6:35 a.m. Oct. 30 and found her slain in a bathroom. Her children, though crying, were physically unharmed.

From the onset, police focused on Hamilton. They tracked him down that morning at his factory job on the 900 block of Industrial Drive in Aurora. Hamilton agreed to talk to detectives at the police station, but he was released that afternoon without charges. The truck Hamilton was driving belonged to a friend, who turned it over to police that day for a forensic examination.

Police took Hamilton into custody for questioning at 1 p.m. Oct. 31 after tracking him down at a friend's home in Plainfield. Two days later, federal immigration officials took the Jamaican native to begin deportation proceedings, based on his criminal history. He's been in their custody ever since.

Police said Hamilton will return to Kane County to face murder charges.

Brenda Love, 47, is raising her slain daughter's two young children. Though buoyed by the charges, she still is in shock at her loss.

"This is the hardest thing I'll ever have to go through in my life," she said. "Please pray for my family. I've got these two little grandchildren who are still in diapers that I love and will try to raise but, someday, I'll have to explain to them what happened to their mother."

Donations are appreciated for The Children of Brenetta Beck Fund at all TCF Bank locations.